


Things Like Chemistry

by SlipKnitPass



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mac makes a great chemistry teacher, Non-Graphic Violence, Undercover Missions, because I'm a romantic at heart, one chapter is an excuse to rant about the teaching profession, vaguest hint of romance at the very end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25405117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlipKnitPass/pseuds/SlipKnitPass
Summary: Intel that should be two years out-of-date becomes pertinent to the Phoenix Foundation's mission. Mac and Jack are sent undercover, with Riley and Bozer for support in order to keep a potential asset safe and recover the information.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Did I compose this at 1 AM while trying to fall asleep? Yes  
> Is this partially an excuse to complain about education as a teacher? Also Yes.  
> I thought I'd try my hand at drama, so here's this. It's completed, so I'll post the other chapters within the next two weeks-ish.  
> Title Credit: Relient K - Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry
> 
> (Also, I don't really know anything about Naval ranks, so I mostly used SEAL Team as a reference...)

“Everyone, this is Special Warfare Operator Second Class James Green,” Matty said, pulling up a photo on the screen in the war room. The team had been about to head out for a weekend of hard-earned rest and Bozer’s cooking when Matty had summoned them for a briefing. “Green was part of DEVGRU, Bravo team.”

“Does this mean we have to work with those whiny water babies. No surprise they need help,” Jack complained with an eye roll.

“No, Jack, James Green has been dead for two years,” Matty said, leveling an annoyed look at him.

“Well, then, I’m grateful for his service and sacrifice, but unless we’re talking about the zombie apocalypse here, Matty, I’m not sure what we can do for him.”  
“If you’d let me finish,” Matty began dangerously, “that brings us to Daisy Green, a high school teacher at a rural California high school and James Green’s widow.” She clicked her remote to switch the picture on the screen.

The photo, clearly pulled from the yearbook, showed a pretty blonde woman with clear green eyes and a welcoming smile. Mac was startled by just how young Daisy Green was. Too young to have been married; too young to have been a widow for two years already.

“It seems that Green was running a dubiously sanctioned op to collect intel on a homegrown terrorist cell that’s manufacturing and selling heroine and using the profits to fund small- and large-scale attacks aimed at toppling governments and stirring up war.”

“Yeah, but Matty, any intel he had has to be out of date by now. There’s no reason for anyone to be interested in it,” Mac pointed out.

“Well, someone thinks that something he had is relevant again, because chatter says that this organization is after Daisy Green in the hopes that her husband left her the information. And I don’t think I need to tell you that if someone is going after that intel two years later, it’s got to be something huge. And chances are they won’t hesitate to harm Daisy to get at it. Mac, you’ll be going undercover as a short-term substitute chemistry teacher; your primary job is making sure she’s safe and getting close enough to her to find out what she knows.”

Mac nodded and leaned over to pull a paperclip from the bowl, absently bending it as Matty continued.

“Jack,” Matty turned to Jack with an unsettling smile. “You’ll be undercover with Mac, but as a janitor at the school.” She silenced Jack’s protests by continuing her briefing right over top of them. “Riley, Bozer, you guys are in charge of getting into her house; see if you can find the intel. Green must have stashed it somewhere and the best bet is that his widow has it. You leave on Sunday. Mac, Jack, you guys start your jobs at the school on Monday.”

Jack teased Mac about being among his fellow nerds and Riley teased Jack about cleaning up other people’s messes literally on this mission. Matty smiled fondly at them for a moment, then barked at them to get packing, sending the team scrambling for their respective cars.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac settles into his role as a teacher, encountering along the way: grumpy school employees, a lack of funding, and one small natural disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Realized how short chapter 1 was, so here's another (much longer) one to go with it.

Monday, as it turned out, was a teacher workday, which Mac was extremely grateful for. While he knew his main goal was keeping Daisy Green safe, it didn’t feel right to ignore the teaching aspect of the mission. Mac was buzzed into the front office, where he signed in and got a sticker ID badge, a school lanyard with a key and a key card, a map, and a clear dismissal from the school secretary. He stood in the office, unsure where to go from there.

“Mrs. Mendel isn’t always the warmest person,” came a conspiratorial whisper to his right. Mac looked down (farther down than he expected) and saw the woman from the picture in the war room. “I’m Daisy Green, the English teacher. You must be Dr. M’s substitute for the week, right? We’re so glad they were able to find someone; we all thought we’d have to cover his classes until he got back.”

“Uh, I’m not sure. I’m subbing for a chemistry class?” Mac replied, a little overwhelmed by her friendliness. He wasn’t used to anyone being that open; at an organization like the Phoenix foundation, secrets were like currency and employees were more reserved, unwilling to relinquish the upper hand by showing emotion.

“Yup, that’ll be Dr. M! You can walk with me; your classroom is at the other end of the hall from mine,” she assured him cheerfully. He waited by the office door while she checked a cubby labeled with her last name, pulling out a stack of papers.

“Did you check, Dr. M’s – well, I guess temporarily your – mailbox?”

Mac just shook his head as he stared at her, wide-eyed, thrown off balance by the sheer energy with which Daisy approached apparently everything. She reached into another cubby that was labeled “Dr. M” instead of with a last name, like hers had been. At his questioning look, she told him that no one actually knew how to pronounce or correctly spell Dr. M’s last name, so everything was labeled with just the initial.

Finally, papers collected and backpack on her back, Daisy led Mac down the hall and up a staircase. “

Oh my goodness, I never actually asked you your name! This must all be a lot to take in, and I haven’t let you get a word in edgewise.”

“No, it’s fine, really. I’m MacGyver, but you can call me Mac. I appreciate you helping me get started. I honestly didn’t expect to be nervous. I love chemistry and I’m looking forward to doing science all day long, but I think my last job was less intimidating,” he told her, laughing a little. At Daisy’s curious glance, he elaborated. “I used to disarm bombs as an army EOD tech.”

Mac winced a little when he caught her sharp intake of breath and saw her hands go to a chain around her neck, hidden by her shirt. He figured it held her husband’s dog tags; he should have known a military career might be a sensitive subject. Still, they settled into a comfortable silence as she led him down two hallways and up a staircase, indicating his classroom with a wave of her hand. The room held lab tables and a few pieces of equipment.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes to help you get settled and find the lesson plans if you don’t mind. I’ve got to set my stuff down and make myself a cup of coffee.”

Mac nodded in agreement and stared after her once she’d left the room. He dropped into the chair at the teacher’s desk, feeling a little like a boat sent rocking by the wake of a larger vessel. He had a brief thought that if she actually consumed caffeine, she’d might have a heart attack or spontaneously combust from moving so quickly, but his musings were interrupted by Jack entering the classroom, pushing a janitor’s cart.

“So, did you meet her?”

“It was either her, or a hurricane masquerading as a person. Jury’s still out,” Mac replied dryly. “She teaches in the classroom at the end of the hall and I don’t think we’ll have a problem getting close to her. She seems…friendly.”

“Friendly, huh?” Jack asked with a raised eyebrow. “She’s certainly pretty, too. Something stirring that I should know about?”

“Jack, don’t be a _jack_ ass. We’re not here for romance, we’re here to do a job.”

“Aha, but romance did cross your mind! You know, I thought there might be something there. You were staring awful close at her picture during the briefing.”

Before Mac could respond, Jack’s radio crackled to life, summoning him to another area of the school. Jack left the room with a sigh, nodding to Daisy as he passed her on her way into the classroom.

“Okay,” Daisy said, placing a mug filled with coffee in front of him and keeping her own mug in hand. “I brought you some coffee because chances are, you’re going to need it. I love Dr. M and he’s a fantastic teacher, but his lesson plans may require some… interpretation on your part. Luckily, I put together his substitute binder for him, so at least you’ll have up to date class information.”

She pulled an orange binder off the shelf behind him and perched a hip on the edge of the desk. Mac listened intently as she flipped through the sections of the binder, reviewing attendance information, emergency procedures, fire drill routes, school schedules, class rosters, and seating charts. It was a lot of information, but extremely detailed and terrifyingly well-organized. _Matty could learn a little from her about putting together briefings_ , Mac thought, then immediately repented of it in case Matty had sensed it.

Finally, Daisy pulled a blue binder labeled “Lesson Plans” off the shelf and set it in front of Mac.

“This is where my help ends, unfortunately. This is where Dr. M left off.” She turned to a page marked with a sticky note. “But that’s about as much guidance as I can give you on science curriculum. I can help you with supplies and stuff, but for content, you should ask Mrs. Mullins. She’s the department chair for science; her room is across the hall and three doors to the left.”

She bid him goodbye with a cheerful wave, picked up her coffee, and left the room. He heard her door open and shut down the hall and turned his attention to the binder in front of him. Luckily, despite Daisy’s warning to the contrary, he had little difficulty figuring out what Dr. M had intended to start teaching next. He made some notes to himself using the sticky notes on the desk, then set out to investigate the cupboards along the back wall for supplies. 30 minutes later, he was cautiously knocking on Daisy’s classroom door.

“Hey, Daisy?” he said hesitantly when she opened the door. “Hey, Mac! Your key works on any classroom door in the building, FYI. What can I help you with?”

“Two things: I need to make copies of Dr M’s chem worksheets and I’m looking for some things I’ll need for the reactions he wanted to demonstrate. Where are the science supplies? Or is there someone I can ask about getting them?”

Daisy laughed at first, then trailed off into silence when she realized he wasn’t joking. She gave him a sympathetic look.

“Whatever’s in Dr. M’s room is what he has for the entire year. We’re a small, rural school district, so there’s not much money for things like science lab supplies. Dr. M used to just buy what he needed out of pocket, but now that his wife stays at home with their kids and they’re on just his salary, he isn’t able to keep doing that. Mostly, he uses youtube clips to demonstrate things and saves the actual labs for special occasions. You could try asking Mullins. She might know if there are leftover supplies.”

“How do –how are they supposed to learn chemistry without doing any labs?” Mac asked, a stunned expression on his face.

“That’s where you get to exercise ‘teacher creativity!’” Daisy said sarcastically, complete with air quotes. “We get the furniture in our classroom and whatever happens to be left over from previous teachers and school years. Most departments get a small budget for subject-specific supplies, but that’s really it. If you need office supplies, you can try the guidance office. Mrs. Faraday collects the supplies that local businesses donate and keeps them in her cabinet to distribute to us, but mostly, if you need something–”

“You just buy it yourself,” Mac finished for her. He looked around her classroom for a moment, at the strings of patio lights hanging from the ceiling, the curtains, potted plant, and wall art that made it seem particularly inviting. “So, all of this,” he gestured at her room.

“Yup, paid for out of pocket over the course of five years teaching,” Daisy confirmed, this time finishing his sentence.

Mac was struck by a sudden desire to find every teacher he’d ever had and apologize for the ungratefulness of students in general (and teenagers in particular) and thank them for what they did in spite of that. Then, he thought back to Mr. Erikson’s class, seeing it with a new perspective. All the experiments they did, all the materials he always seemed to have when Mac would work on projects in his classroom after school…Mac had never realized just how much the man must have invested to give his students the kinds of experiences he had.

“If it makes you feel any better, I had to buy a class set of books out of pocket last year,” Daisy offered.

“You know, I, uh, I’m not sure that it does. Definitely makes me feel something, though.”

“Mm, yes, teacher rage. Embrace it and use it to fuel your teaching. Now come on, I’ll show you to the copier, which limits the amount of copies you can print each quarter because, you know, why not?”

_We are NOT paying these people enough money_ , Mac decided as he followed her swinging ponytail down the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another super long chapter! Action picks up a little, but it's not at all graphic. Enjoy!

“It’s been  _ four days _ ,” Riley groaned, flopping onto the couch in the apartment the four agents were sharing. “Bozer and I have been through her entire house  _ twice _ and I’ve combed through everything she has online and even all her late husband’s online accounts. There’s nothing there. Mac, have you been able to get anything?”

“What I’ve got,” Mac retorted with a frustrated tone, “is a stack of chemistry tests to grade and a lab that I have to figure out how to do without any of the supplies actually needed for the lab.”

“Uh, Mac, you do realize you’re not actually a teacher at this school, right?” Bozer informed him with a raised eyebrow.

“Whatever, Boze; I think it would actually be easier to stage a one-man raid of this terror cell if we could find them. I literally can’t imagine why anyone goes into this field voluntarily.” Mac pushed aside the stack of papers to grade and shoved his hands through his hair with a sigh, changing topics. “Daisy hasn’t said much about her late husband. I talked a little about working for the army to see if she’d open up. She said James used to write her letters faithfully. When Daisy saw me making a paperclip thing, she told me that he loved art and photography. He used to send her sketches and was always taking photos. Maybe the information is somehow encoded in the letters or photos, Ri?”

Riley perked up immediately, cheered by the thought of having a new place to search for the intel, but Jack zeroed in on Mac’s information about Daisy.

“Seems like you’re getting real  _ friendly  _ with Daisy Green,” Jack said with a significant look, emphasizing the word Mac had used to describe her on that first day. “Am I sensing more than a professional interest, here? Because I think she’d be a good fit for you, Mac, and she really seems to like you. She might be ready to move on if you know what I mean.”

“Wow, thanks, yenta. I’ll take that under advisement if I decide that my dating life takes precedence over an as-yet-unknown terrorist plot to topple world regimes. Solid life advice.”

Riley and Bozer joined in the good-natured teasing, but Riley couldn’t help but notice that Mac didn’t deny a personal interest in Daisy Green. She looked at him with a speculative glance and wondered how much she’d be violating the Espionage Act if she slipped Daisy Mac’s real phone number.

\---------

The lockdown was called Friday morning during Mac’s planning period as he was in the middle of grading his 6 th period’s tests. He’d heard rumors in the copy room earlier that week that there would be a lockdown drill, so he wasn’t particularly concerned as he got up, turned out the lights, and covered the window on the already-locked door. He sat back down to finish grading by the light coming in the windows. And then, minutes later, he heard the boots.

Years of working with Jack had made Mac intimately acquainted with the sound of military boots on wood and based on what he was hearing, there were at least two sets currently doing their level best to kick in a door. 

He bolted out into the hall, frantically dialing Jack’s phone because reception on their comms was nonexistent in the school.

“Jack, I need you here now!” Mac whispered furiously, trying to avoid notice from the men in what appeared to be tactical gear. “They’re kicking down Daisy’s door!”

Mac heard a third set of boots thundering up the stairs and could only hope that it was Jack coming to help.

\-------

Daisy knew something was wrong the moment Mrs. Mendel called the lockdown over the PA system. The woman’s voice hadn’t wavered over a single announcement in the 6 years Daisy had been teaching at the school, but now she sounded fearful.

“Come on, everyone in the corner, over near the window, but against the wall,” Daisy instructed her students as she raced to the door, throwing the lockdown bolt and covering the window. She spared a moment to be grateful that she had her smallest class (only 16 students) this period instead of her third period, which had 25 students. She took a few deep breaths and stationed herself in front of the group of students, eyes firmly fixed on the door. Daisy didn’t have to wait long before everything went to hell.

It started with a banging on the door. Whoever was outside was rattling the door handle, yanking on the door hard enough to shake the ceiling tiles. When they started kicking, she opened the window. A glance into the courtyard her classroom faced showed that it was empty. Whoever this was, they seemed to have a singular purpose: to get into her classroom for some unknown reason. But Daisy had her own singular purpose: the safety of her students, many of whom were screaming and crying at this point.

“Listen to me!” She said sharply, raising her voice the slightest bit. She handed her key and ID badge to her most responsible student. “You are all going to go out this window, across the courtyard, and into the other building. Hide in the bathrooms and don’t come out until Deputy Johnson or I come to get you. Understood?”

There was frantic shuffling as they moved to comply, underscored by what sounded like boots kicking in the door.

“Faster, faster! You’ve got to go!” Daisy was practically shoving them out of the room.

“Ms. Green, you’ve gotta come with us,” one of her girls cried, tugging on her arm.

“You guys first. I’ll be right behind you, I promise.” Daisy crossed her fingers behind her back in an instinctive, childish gesture. She knew it was a promise she wouldn’t be able to keep.

The last student crawled out the window as the door was splintering, giving Daisy just enough time to wedge herself between the filing cabinet and the wall, opening the cabinet door for a little extra coverage. She closed her eyes, held her breath, and waited for the worst as the door finally gave.

\------

Jack came racing down the hall as the two man team managed to breach the door to Daisy’s classroom.

“Mac, you go in, make sure Daisy and her students are okay, I’ll handle these two knuckleheads,” Jack said with a grin. “Come on, boys, let’s dance.”

Mac rushed into the room, surprised to find it empty. He knew Daisy had students this period and she hadn’t mentioned being in the library with her classes today. He was listening to the sounds of Jack subduing the men at the door, searching for any sign of her, when he saw the filing cabinet door swing just a little.

“Daisy,” he said cautiously, approaching her hiding spot. “Everything’s fine now. I need you to come out of there.” He reached for the cabinet door and slowly closed it, revealing Daisy curled in the corner, silent tears dripping down her face.

“M-my, my kids. Are my kids all -are they okay?”

Mac’s heart broke a little at those words and he thought that maybe he had a new perspective on how Jack felt when Mac disregarded his own safety in the field. These men had been here for her, to hurt her, and not only had Daisy _not_ left the room with her students, here she was making sure they were safe.

“I don’t know, but I didn’t see any of them in the hall and it seems like there were only the two men at your door. Jack’s taken care of them.”

“Jack?” she echoed, sounding lost.

“Uh, the new custodian. He’s apparently former special forces. Lucky we have him here,” Mac replied with a gentle smile. “Do you think you can come out from there now?” He extended a hand to her and startled when she clutched it in a death grip, standing up and stumbling right into him. He stood stiffly for a moment, surprised that she’d seek comfort from a near-stranger, then he gave in and wrapped her in a hug. Mac didn’t often get to see the people he saved first hand, so he took the opportunity to enjoy the moment.

\------

Gradually, as Daisy pulled away from Mac, she became aware of voices in the hallway. She could hear an unfamiliar southern drawl layered over Deputy Johnson’s familiar voice and the voices of, presumably, other police officers. She heard them give word that the building was clear and then the PA crackled to life, but it may as well have been the adults in Charlie Brown talking for all she understood. Daisy was certain someone was talking directly to her, too, but for the life of her she couldn’t focus on anything right then.

“Hey, Daisy?” The southern drawl broke through her fog, too distinct to be ignored. “Daisy, where are your students?”

“Um, I sent them - I sent them across the courtyard to the other building. They should..if they followed directions, they should be in the bathrooms by the, by the cafeteria,” she said shakily. “I told them not to...not to come out until Mike -Deputy Johnson- or I went to get them.”

“That’s good, Daisy. You did a good job keeping them safe, honey. Why don’t we get you to the library? We can bring your students there, so they can see that you’re okay.” Jack coaxed her out of the ruined doorway with an arm around her shoulders and the two of them led a parade of people down the hall to the library. Mac recognized the tone Jack was using, the same one he used on all his kids when they were scared or hurt; Daisy didn’t know it, but she’d been unofficially adopted into the Dalton Found Family.

The next two hours were a blur of hugs from students, tears, phone calls to parents, and waiting. It was decided that all students would remain in their current class for the time being while the administration called the parents of Daisy’s 16 students to come pick them up, then they’d figure out what to do about the rest of the student body. Once all 16 of Daisy’s students had been sent home, Deputy Johnson and Mr. Hannity, the principal, took seats on either side of Daisy.

“Daisy, we’re going to send you home and I want you to take a few days to relax. I don’t want to see you back in your room until Wednesday at the earliest. And I would prefer if you didn’t come back at all next week. You’re going to need some time to recover from this ordeal,” Mr. Hannity told her gently. “But Deputy Johnson here is going to need to take your statement before we can let you go.”

Daisy nodded mutely, wiped her face with a tissue, gathered her courage, and recounted the whole experience, start to finish. She was shaking by the end, but hadn’t started crying again.

“Do you have someone who can come and get you, Daze?” asked Deputy Johnson gently once he’d finished writing. Daisy glanced at him, surprised that he’d used his childhood nickname for her. He smiled briefly, but it fell when she shook her head.

“I’ll take her home,” Mac volunteered. “As long as someone can cover my classes, I guess.”

“Well, seeing as we’re unlikely to have a normal rest of the day, I think that’ll be fine as long as you’re okay with it, Daisy?” Mr. Hannity asked. Daisy nodded.

“I don’t know that it’s safe for her to go somewhere unprotected,” Deputy Johnson hedged.

“I’ll go with them,” Jack offered. “I think y’all have seen that I can take care of anything that, uh, comes up, so to speak.”

Reluctantly, the deputy and the principal agreed to their plan, looking over at Daisy first for confirmation.

“I need, um, I need my backpack and my laptop. But they’re in my room and I don’t - I can’t-”

“I’ll go get them and meet you outside,” Mac volunteered. Daisy nodded and the group broke up, Jack putting an arm around her again to lead her out to the parking lot. Mac heard Jack asking her for her address as they made their way down the hall. 

Minutes later, in the heavy silence that hung over the car, Mac and Jack had a silent conversation. Whoever this group was, they’d just escalated the situation and moved up the op’s timetable in a big way.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some discussions of the past, the situation comes to a head. (I'm clearly not great at chapter summaries)

When they arrived at Daisy’s house, she unlocked the door and showed them in, then collapsed on the couch like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Mac ached at seeing Daisy, normally such a dynamic person, reduced to a shell of herself. Jack made his way to the kitchen to scrounge up something sugary for her to drink for the shock while Mac sat next to her on the couch. He put a hand over hers where it was shaking, resting on her knee.

“That’s a beautiful tattoo,” he told her, drawing her attention to the ink on her forearm, a tandem bicycle with flowers in a basket on the front of the bike. “Does it have a meaning or do you just like riding bicycles?”

Daisy stared blankly at him for a moment, startled by his choice of topic. She’d expected questions about the day at best, and at worst, for him to bid her farewell and leave her there alone.

“Uh, sorry, no, it’s not that I love bicycles so much,” she replied with a faint laugh after a moment. She felt more than saw Jack sit on the couch on her other side. Daisy took the cold can of soda he offered her and sipped from it before continuing. “My... I was married. My husband died in the line of duty. He was a Navy SEAL. Anyway, he used to call me Daisy-Daisy and he’d sing that song “Bicycle Built for Two” all the time to me. You know, "Daisy, Daisy give me your answer, do?" I used to get so annoyed with him because he’d make up words to it. Jamie would sing me grocery lists, coffee orders, love poems, silly jokes - all to that same darn tune. When he died, I got this tandem bike, a bicycle built for two, tattooed on my arm. The basket has two daisies in it: Daisy, Daisy.”

Mac was surprised to realize that Daisy was smiling for real now. When he realized the tattoo was related to her late husband, Mac had kicked himself for bringing up another sensitive topic, but it seemed to be a source of comfort rather than more hurt, like time had worn away the sharp edges of grief into something softer.

“You must have gotten married young,” Jack prompted with a smile. He watched as Daisy pulled her husband’s dog tags out from under her shirt, rubbing them absently; a gold wedding band, too big to be Daisy’s, kept them company.

“Mmm, we were high school sweethearts. He did a year of college and decided it wasn’t for him. Joined up with the Navy and we decided it didn’t make sense to wait to get married. We went to the courthouse, got married, and then he went to boot camp and started serving while I finished college. We were married five years before he was killed.”

“Look, Daisy, I’m going to level with you. What happened today is related to your Jamie,” Jack told her seriously.

Mac shot Jack a sharp look and shook his head. They weren’t authorized to break their cover. Jack gave him a frustrated look in return: the time for beating around the bush had ended when 16 kids and a teacher had been put at risk.

“I don’t understand. He’s been gone for two years, how can any of this have to do with him?”

“He was collecting intel on a terrorist group and it seems that now they want that information back. They think that you have it, that Jamie left it with you or hid it somewhere you’d know about.”

“Jamie didn’t involve me in that part of his life!” Daisy insisted. “He didn’t want me to worry, so he never really gave me specifics. He certainly didn’t give me sensitive information. And just who are you anyway? What do a high school janitor and a substitute chemistry teacher - who clearly know each other very well, by the way- want with this so-called, two-year-old information?”

“We’re just trying to keep people safe,” Mac said, jumping in. “We work for a group that wants to stop people like the ones who tried to take you today. I need you to think about anything that stands out to you about the months before and after Jamie’s death. I know it’s hard, but can you think of anything he did or said that was unusual? Any gifts he may have given you that were uncharacteristic? Places he might have hidden something?”

“I don’t think…” Daisy trailed off and Mac squeezed her hand where he still held it on her knee, encouraging her. “The picture frame! It’s in a box in the attic. Just before his last deployment, Jamie gave me one of those digital photo frames that, like, cycles through pictures. I thought it was weird because we always kind of made fun of them. I thought they were kind of cheesy and Jamie loved physical photos; he always said they had more life. But he… I remember that he insisted I keep it. Could he have put information on that?”

Mac nodded grimly and stood up. Daisy pointed him down the hall to the attic access hatch and he went to locate the frame in question.

“If it’s all the same to you,” Daisy told Jack, “I think I’ll go sit on the porch for a few minutes. I need some time to collect myself.” Jack nodded and watched her walk out the door before joining Mac, standing at the bottom of the ladder to the attic.

“Found it!” Mac called out triumphantly. He came back down the ladder, brandishing the photo frame with a grin. “Looks like we’ll be-” his words were cut off by a scream. Moments later, the air rang with the sound of a slamming car door and the squeal of tires. Mac was out the door like a shot, but it was too late to do anything more than catch a partial plate on the car that was most definitely taking Daisy out of their sight and to an unknown fate.

\------

“Riles, I need you to see if there’s any information on our terror cell on this picture frame,” Mac practically yelled at her as he skidded through the front door of the team’s apartment, Jack hot on his heels. “They made a play for Daisy at the school and then took her right off her front porch. I’ve got a partial plate off the car, but we need something,  _ anything _ that’ll help us get her back and soon.”

With a nod, Riley plugged in the partial plate and Mac’s description of the car into one of her background programs, then turned her attention to the picture frame, connecting it to her computer with a USB cable dug out of the depths of her backpack.

“Whoa, there’s a  _ lot  _ of data here. Whatever James Green was doing to collect intel, it was working. Mac, there’s too much to sort through with a civilian’s life at risk.”

“Look for land purchases,” Jack says, breaking into the conversation. “This kind of militia favors backwoods land where they can build with no one noticing. Find the land and maybe we’ll find Daisy.”

“Uh, I’ve got..um, four parcels of land here, but who knows how many lots they’ve bought since this intel was current,” Riley says without looking up.

“We have to assume it’s one of those. They want this information back, right? So they must have something planned involving a location in this intel packet,” Mac reasoned. “Either way, it’s our best chance. Look for any deliveries of construction materials to those sites.”

Riley had narrowed down their options to two locations when her background search for the car pinged with a result.

“All right, looks like with the partial on the car plus the locations we’ve got, they’re holding her at some kind of, I don’t know, bunker warehouse thing? It’s 30 minutes outside of town, which means they haven’t been there for very long with Daisy. If you leave now, they’ll only have had her alone for an hour or so.”

Mac and Jack didn’t hear the end of Riley’s sentence, having already run for the car, confident that she’d send them the coordinates they needed. They drove as far as they dared before leaving the car behind and continuing on foot, approaching the building from the rear. Mac counted two guards outside and saw two more through the open garage bay doors on the building. 

In the end, whether the whole organization was incompetent or they’d just left their four dumbest guards in place, rescuing Daisy proved to be a matter of minutes. Jack took out the two guards outside while Mac dealt with the two inside, leaving them wrapped up in duct tape for the cops to find. He found Daisy tied to a chair in a back room of the “bunker warehouse thing” as Riley had called it. 

“Daisy!” Mac rushed over and untied her. He caught her as she listed to one side, disoriented. “Hey, Daisy, you’re going to be just fine,” he reassured her, brushing her hair out of her face. She had a split lip, a black eye, and what looked like it could be a broken nose. And if the way she was having trouble focusing on Mac was any indication, a decent concussion to go along with it. Still, it could have been worse. Mac knew that for him and Jack, it often _ had _ been worse and he was so, so grateful to find her here and relatively whole.

He helped her stumble out to the car, where she leaned against him in the backseat, then he held her hand the entire time she was at the hospital, only letting go when they finally got her inside her house. Mac sat her on the couch and called Riley for backup: with her concussion, swollen eye, and bandages, Daisy would need some help that neither one of them would be comfortable with Mac providing.

“Hey, Daisy, this is my sister, Riley,” Mac said by way of introduction. Riley raised her eyebrows at him and Mac just shrugged. He couldn’t say why it was important that Daisy didn’t make any  _ Assumptions  _ about him and Riley, but it was. “She’s going to help you get ready for bed.”

All things considered, it was early yet to be going to bed, but if anyone had earned it, it was certainly Daisy. As the house settled into silence, Mac stretched out on the couch and let sleep pull him under.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter count changed because I honestly thought I'd split this up into 6 chapters, but I didn't. (That's what writing at 2 AM will do to you)
> 
> If you're not familiar with the song "Bicycle Built for Two," here's a link:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gDf7misJvk


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tying up loose ends, Mac doesn't think about a career change, and the sad state of Mac's usual social life.

The team spent all of Saturday and part of Sunday camped out in Daisy’s dining room sorting through data and writing up mission reports to send back to Matty. If they were also keeping an eye on Daisy, well, it was just an added bonus.

“Matty, I think I should, uh, stay and finish out the next week of teaching,” Mac reported on Sunday afternoon.

“Come again, Blondie?” Matty asked, dangerously polite.

“It’s just, we aren’t sure we’ve eliminated the threat to her entirely yet, and I don’t feel right leaving those students to another sub for an entire week,” he argued.

“Hmm, would that be the only reason, MacGyver?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Mac replied too quickly. “It’s my job to make sure she stays safe, you assigned me that role yourself. And do you know how hard it is to find decent subs? Those kids won’t learn anything if they stick some random college student looking for some extra cash in that classroom!”

“I’m guessing I’ll be adding ‘the plight of teachers and the state of education’ to the Phoenix Foundation’s charitable causes this year, won’t I? Fine, I’ll approve your time to finish the op, but I’m pulling the rest of the team.”

“That’s fine, Matty. I’ll see you next week.”

He hung up the phone and paced around the living room, listening idly to the sounds of Riley packing up her rig and Bozer cleaning up the dishes they’d used for their takeout.

“So, you’re finishing out the week,” came Daisy’s voice from the hall, startling Mac.

“Uh, yeah. Didn’t seem right to leave the kids hanging and I’d blame myself if anything happened to you.”

“I knew from day one that you’d make a good teacher. You ever considered a career change?”

“Honestly, I think it’s easier being a covert operative,” he blurted without thinking. Daisy laughed.

“Yeah, I guess some days it is, at that. Still, it’ll be tough to see you leave  _ and _ since I’m on mandatory leave this week, I won’t even see you at work.”

“I can promise that you’ll see so much of me this week, you’ll be asking me to leave,” Mac promised.

“Somehow, I doubt that, Mac,” she told him with a fond smile before turning and heading back to her room.

\-------

**Three Months Later...**

“Mac  _ never _ leaves work early unless he’s forced to. Something’s wrong,” Riley insisted in a whisper. 

She and Bozer and Jack are sitting in the war room, wrapping up some reports for Matty. Mac should theoretically be in there with them, but instead, he was putting on his jacket and digging his phone out of his back pocket.

“Yeah, but he’s smiling. Why would he be smiling if something was wrong?” Bozer counters as Mac reacts to a text on his phone.

“I think Mac’s got better places to be than the war room on a Friday night,” Jack chimed in.

“Jack, literally everyone Mac hangs out with is in this room filling out paperwork. Where’s he going without us?” Bozer asked incredulously. He almost sounded offended at the idea of Mac having other friends.

“Well, there’s a very simple explanation for this that you’re missing,” Jack assures both of them, a knowing smile on his face.

“Yeah, he’s had a nervous breakdown clearly. Is he  _ humming? _ What even is that song?” Riley asked in an offended tone.

“You know, I do believe he’s humming ‘Bicycle Built for Two,’” Jack told them, as though that answered every question.

And maybe, just this once, it did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for going on this fanfic journey with me! I appreciate all the comments and kudos; I find it tough to post things I've written, but the support on AO3 really makes the difference!


End file.
